About Annapurna Indian Dance
Shantha Rao
Shantha is the founder and artistic director of Annapurna Indian dance with the vision to connect communities through her dance work. She is a trained teacher, storyteller and Bharatanatyam dancer with a deep passion to share Indian stories and ancient dance forms with the wider UK community. She gave up her full time job as a teacher to pursue her passion and a bursary from Paul Hamlyn Foundation enabled her to train in all aspects of the community arts. Her in-depth knowledge of the National Curriculum and teaching methodology has helped her to conceive and implement numerous creative projects in an educational setting to hundreds of schools and colleges throughout the UK. Shantha has developed many innovative projects for Annapurna Dance, bringing together talented and diverse artists from puppeteers to storytellers and touring with them throughout the UK. Her major projects funded by the Arts Council England are Indian Monsoon, Namaste Greetings from India, Dances From the Distant Lands, The Indian Hereafter, Tales From Mystic India, Bicycle with Barefoot, The Unknown Becomes Known and currently Soldiers of the Empire which commemorates the centenary of India’s service in the First World War. Shantha continues to dedicate herself to promoting Indian dance and culture in Yorkshire and beyond. Associate freelance artists working regularly for the company include:
Santosh Menon
Santosh is trained at The Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts in Chennai . He trains students in Bharatanatyam dance in our academy every Thursday 
Priya Sundar
Bharatanatyam Dancer and storyteller – Performs and delivers our education projects. 
Vijay Venkat
Musician Vijay Venkat is a multi instrumentalist/vocalist in Indian Classical music specialising in the violin, viola, flute and vichitra veena (an ancient Indian fret-less slide instrument). 
Pratap Ramachandra
Renowned percussionist for Mridangam and Clay Pot drums |
01422 209906
info@annapurnadance.com
Room T2/A Dean Clough Mills
Halifax HX3 5AX |
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Annapurna Indian Dance is funded and supported by the following organisations:
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